HUBERT MINNIS: CLOTHED IN HIS RIGHT MIND? ( OUR HEADLINE)

A Message From Andrew Burrows on FB

I called it “fake outrage” because it’s a reaction to something that has been around forever. Maybe I should have called it “new found outrage” since it was absent when previous administrations did in fact, re-engage former civil servants on contract while they were still able to collect pensions. Either way, folks will be upset. That’s understandable.

Here’s my reply to that. Be upset. Then find out the facts. You may end up even more upset if you think this was a unique situation. It isn’t. You can go down the line of every ministry or department and you will find that there have been former Directors rehired into the service as “consultants” when they’ve hit retirement age. In one case, I know of the consultant hitting the age as the Acting Director to the Director, who, himself was also still on the payroll. Both of them had an Acting Director. Yes, this is real and on and on it goes. I promise you there are civil servants reading this shaking their heads because they know of cases like this up and down, not just the high profile posts of PS.

So the outrage from the political party is fake. The reaction from the public, and I can excuse this, may be justified but it’s probably unfair since the public doesn’t have all of the information. I understand the two gents involved in this saga are both recently retired. Both of them have worked in the service within the last year. Again, I can name a few high profile people who have been brought back years into retirement to serve. It wasn’t a cause for outrage then and it shouldn’t be now. Or is this once again, a case of it being a problem based on who is involved?

How old is Dr. Dahl-Regis again? I served with her on the Ebola Task Force under Perry Christie. I have zero concerns that Dr. Minnis brought her back after she retired to head the COVID task force. Twice. Experience discarded just to say you’re being all new is reckless. I trust the PM to do the right thing just as I didn’t give Dr. Minnis’s decisions on his senior policy advisor or COVID Czar a second thought. This is not a debate and you guys have no excuses for not knowing these things because if it feels wrong now and you were silent then, then you understand my term “fake outrage.”